Councillor accuses ruling Tories at county council of 'turning their backs on Hucknall' over bus cuts

Coun Dave Shaw, along with fellow Hucknall county council member Coun Lee Waters put down a Notice of Motion into County Hall calling for the decision by Trentbarton to axe evening and Sunday services to be reversed.

The motion formally called for Nottinghamshire Council to reinstate the bus subsidy of £75,000 for a minimum of six months.

The crucial motion and potential vote was intended to be heard at the full council meeting on March 30.

But, almost no sooner had it been reported that Coun Shaw was intending to propose the motion, he released a statement saying the motion would not be heard.

And he angrily pointed the finger of blame at Coun Neil Clarke, cabinet member for transport and environment, who Coun Shaw says made the personal decision in February not to continue funding the Hucknall services.

Coun Shaw said: “Unfortunately, on a technicality the council is refusing to consider our motion.

"This technicality amounts to the fact Coun Clarke personally made the decision not to continue funding the subsidy for the Hucknall Connect service back in February.

“Coun Clarke did, however, make the decision to continue funding the Trentbarton Rushcliffe Villager which is his own local bus.

“Yet again, the Conservatives have turned their backs on Hucknall.

"We will continue fighting for our bus services.”

Coun Waters added: “We will still be raising this in questions and speeches at the council meeting on March 30 and especially the fact that the Conservative councillor who made this decision chose to save his own local bus service and made the decision to reduce the one impacting so many people in Hucknall.

"We will be making the strong case for the return of a full Hucknall Connect service – including evening and Sunday services at the forthcoming bus review."

Coun Clarke said: “Operators across Nottinghamshire have told us bus recovery has been slower than hoped, so they will no longer be able to operate some services in their current form.

“We have already stepped in to support 11 bus services across Nottinghamshire which would otherwise have been withdrawn from April.

"We also took the decision a short while ago to continue supporting the 141 bus service serving the Hucknall area.

“We have prioritised supporting these services in areas where there would be no alternatives for residents if we did not take action and our priority is making sure that communities have access to health, employment and essential shopping facilities.

“Trentbarton is not fully withdrawing Connect services in Hucknall as they will still be in operation in the daytime, meaning that residents can continue to access key facilities.

“We intend to carry out a full review of all services supported through the local bus budget and will look at any gaps in service provision across the county, which will include the impact of these withdrawals and service reductions by operators, including the Connect services.

“The council and Trentbarton received a letter about the service changes from local councillors and we will take into account the content of the letter in the full review of services that is planned.”